Naperville North hoping score will be good enough

Naperville North is going surfing this weekend.

All eyes of the Huskies boys gymnastics team will be on the sectionals at Downers Grove North, Palatine and Mundelein and results via the Internet the next couple of days. The team is hoping its second-place score of 149.650 in Thursday’s night’s Lincoln-Way East sectional will be enough to secure one of the three at-large qualifiers to next weekend’s state finals.

Lincoln-Way co-op won the sectional with a 160.8.

“I think we have a very good shot at making it,” Naperville North’s Josh Soto said. “We could’ve done a lot better. High bar was a little rough and then pommels was really rough. We all fell and gave up like a ton of points.”

Naperville North coach Brad Foerch had previously mentioned the number 150 as being enough to get the team to state. Now, the Huskies will sit and wait, watching for updates on ihsa.org.

“We looked at the scores from the previous years and are still hoping we’ll make it in,” Naperville North’s Billy Suta said. “It’s been our goal all season and we have no control over it now.”

Regardless if the team advances or not, Suta and Soto have already locked in their appearances individually. Suta took second in the all-around with a 51.7 and won the floor with a 9.45 and still rings with an 8.7. Soto secured the final all-around qualifier with a 48.2.

Dante Reyes took fifth on still rings and vault and Max Lu was fourth on parallel bars as the Huskies guaranteed four qualifiers to state.

Hinsdale Central’s Tyler Leahy won vault with a 9.75 and took third in the all-around with a 50.5 and Neuqua Valley’s Andrew Fairbanks placed fourth in the all-around with a 50.1.

“My goal was to get all-around in state,” Fairbanks said. “My form was good tonight. I had some rough spots on rings, but everything else I did felt good.”

Naperville Central’s Dave Rynearson also advanced, taking third on vault with a 9.5.

Hinsdale Central finished in third place with a 140.9, Naperville Central was sixth with a 116 and Downer Grove South took ninth place with a 100.4.